The Billerica High girls soccer team moved its overall record to 13-1-2 on Saturday with a 4-0 victory in Westford.
The Indians scored two goals in each half against the Ghosts, who stayed with BMHS for most of the first half aside from two shots by sophomore Sara MacLeod, both blasts got past WA keeper Meghan Hall.
Billerica has two matches left in the regular season including a Tuesday night home contest against Central Catholic and a Thursday game in Lawrence against a young and winless Lancer squad. Methuen, who is tied with the Indians, plays Lawrence and Chelmsford next week to close out its season.
“The bottom line is if we beat Central, we’ll be no worse than co-champions,” said BMHS coach Tom Foley.
If the Indians beat Central, they’ll clinch at least a tie for the Merrimack Valley Conference title.
Senior quad-captain Kylie McGowan led a BMHS defense that kept the shots on Indian junior goalie Grace Carter to a minimum.
Also sparking the BMHS defense was sophomore Kaylie Govoni, senior Molly Murphy and sophomore Molly Fitzgerald.
MacLeod’s first goal came at the 10-minute mark off of a pass from senior captain Lily Baldwin. The shot went into the top corner to Hall’s right.
“When she’s on, she’s tough (for opponents) to deal with,” Foley said of MacLeod. “Today, she was tough to deal with.”
Hall made a terrific play moments later, charging out of her goal to block a shot by Baldwin, but MacLeod would make it 2-0 with 18 minutes left in the half, finishing a pass from freshman Ana Torres-Martinez.
The Ghosts had several chances to score in the first half, perhaps the best a corner kick by Dava McClelland that rolled right through the goal box.
Ruby Krikorian and Ashley Vinith also kept the pressure on the Indian defense.
Billerica scored a big goal early in the second half on a corner kick.
The offering by senior captain Sofia Manne was on target and MacLeod came charging in to knock in her third straight goal, and her 15th of the year, to make it 3-0.
Senior Isabella Pereira made room for MacLeod in front of the Westford goal on the play.
Less than two minutes later, at 8:37 of the second half, senior Jillian Weeks scored an unassisted goal.
Weeks nearly added another moments later off of a nice pass by senior Jayden Darris-O’Connor.
Late in the game, sophomore Keira MacKenzie took over in goal for Carter and preserved the shutout.
Senior captain Emma Jacob and senior Julia Nott also stepped up and contributed to the Billerica defensive effort.
BMHS has allowed only four goals throughout its 16 matches this fall.
“The girls have done a great job,” Foley said. “They’ve come a long way since the first week of the season.”
